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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25897156">Priorities</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeblue33/pseuds/princeblue33'>princeblue33</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Character Death, Deceit | Janus Sanders Angst, Logic | Logan Sanders Angst, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:53:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,409</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25897156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeblue33/pseuds/princeblue33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of six friends, only Logan and Janus have survived this long in the zombie apocalypse.  Desperate, tense, and grieving, they must face their differences and past mistakes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Deceit | Janus Sanders &amp; Logic | Logan Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Priorities</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Logan twisted the rubix cube numbly, colors spinning past his nose. He could solve the cube without giving it much thought, but the skill gave him less satisfaction than it used to. The first time he’d ever solved it, he’d been triumphant and ecstatic, and vowed to get better, faster. Now, the toy afforded him nothing but time to think.</p><p>It had been a difficult year.</p><p>Logan had always been prepared for something like this. Behind his back, people called him neurotic, paranoid, crazy, and a whole host of other things, but really, who was laughing now?</p><p>Roman and Remus, ever the troublemakers, teased Logan that he was going senile early- that was ridiculous, he was barely thirty. Virgil worried about him, but when didn’t Logan’s baby brother worry about something. Patton, at least, humored him, figuring Logan was working through something, be it a quarter life crisis or sudden hyperfixation on the inevitability of the end of the world- but Logan appreciated the moral support, even if it came from a condescending place.</p><p>But Janus… Janus downright told Logan to his face he was insane to build an apocalypse survival bunker “just in case” and Logan still felt the weight of those words clinging to him.</p><p>It didn’t matter now. When the first cases of a zombie virus began to appear, resurrecting corpses into ghoulish entities with gnashing teeth and soul hollowing groans, Logan had a fully functional apocalypse survival bunker to retreat to, and of course, he invited all the others with him- even Janus.<br/>
Logan had designed the place with “rooms” for each of them- cubbies with curtains, so they were afforded some semblance of privacy. He’d stocked up on canned goods, just something to keep them going. He’d even bought weapons, something he was generally rather opposed to, but in this situation he realized the importance of being able to defend oneself. He’d also included entertainment, to an extent, his own favorite books, fidget toys for Virgil, an old tv and movies for the twins, stuffed toys for Patton, and even some strategy games to keep Janus occupied.</p><p>The place could’ve weathered just about any world ending phenomenon, as far as Logan’s calculations and wildest theories could stretch. Nuclear war, Earth rending storms, severe climate change and- although Logan never seriously considered the possibility- the zombie apocalypse.<br/>
In the end, none of it mattered. Not really. None of them had survived more than a year, none except-</p><p>The bunker door slid open with a hiss, and Janus practically fell inside, clutching his leg with a groan. Logan moved to get up out of bed, but his broken leg ached, and he leaned back with a stiff sigh. Janus held up a hand, still collapsed on the floor as the bunker door hissed shut behind him, and the many locks clicked.</p><p>“Not a bite.” Janus managed. “I’ll be fine.”</p><p>Logan raised an eyebrow. “Allow me to assess you.”</p><p>Janus had never been the most trustworthy apocalyptic companion, and in the past year, he’d lied to Logan and the others about things he found on raids, often smuggling better food or resources for himself, or hiding minor injuries that later got infected, because he didn’t want to be left behind. Janus was a survivor in the sense that he didn’t want anyone else’s help, but that didn’t mean he didn’t need it. Without Logan’s medical knowledge, he certainly wouldn’t have made it this long, and Logan took some perverse comfort in this.</p><p>Janus glanced at him, eye flashing- only the right eye. The left side of his face was covered in a bloody bandage, having been clawed out by a zombie in a fight just a week ago. His depth perception was totally screwed, and he was even more bitter and resentful towards Logan because of it, even though Logan had done everything he could to dress the wound. It was as if he blamed Logan for this whole thing, even though he could hardly blame one man for the end of the entire world.</p><p>Janus looked like he wanted to argue, but in the end, he pulled himself up to a standing position using the wall, and made his way over to Logan’s cot, sinking down on the end of it, and pulling his leg up so Logan could see.</p><p>Logan squinted at the wound, then fumbled for his glasses on the nightstand.</p><p>“Remind me how you acquired this injury?” Logan asked, pulling away the torn fabric of Janus’s pant leg.</p><p>“Scratched it on a piece of metal.” Janus said coolly. Logan looked up, meeting his eye.</p><p>“A piece of metal?” he repeated. Janus nodded, but the two of them had been there together long enough that Logan knew Janus was lying, and Janus knew Logan knew he was lying.</p><p>“You encountered the undead?” Logan asked. “Get me the medical kit.”</p><p>“You say that as if it’s my fault there are zombies out there.” Janus growled, sliding off the cot and grabbing the first aid kit off the shelf.</p><p>“It is not your fault,” Logan said. “But what reason have you to lie about it?<br/>
Janus rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t matter. Will I be losing my leg?”</p><p>Logan soaked a rag in alcohol and pressed it to the wound, Janus’s sarcasm going over his head, as it always did.</p><p>“Not today, fortunately.” Logan said, wrapping the wound in gauze. “But be careful with that leg for a bit.”</p><p>“Whatever you say, doc.” Janus said, standing up and wincing slightly.</p><p>“Did you happen to find anything of use?” Logan asked, nodding towards the bag hanging dejectedly over Janus’s shoulder. Janus pulled off the bag and tossed it onto Logan’s cot.</p><p>“See for yourself.”</p><p>Logan rubbed his hands together again and peered into the bag. A few dented cans of soup, a few filthy bandages (probably unusable) and a bottle of some kind of pills that, upon closer inspection, was a mostly empty bottle of cold medicine.</p><p>“Anything else?” he asked Janus, pushing the bag back. Janus raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“You don’t trust me?”</p><p>“You’ve never given me any reason to.” Logan replied coldly, adjusting his glasses. “Rather, you’ve given me every reason to believe you are going behind my back whenever the opportunity presents itself.”</p><p>Janus rolled his eye dramatically. “I found one other thing, but it’s nothing you’d care about.</p><p>Logan raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”</p><p>“Really, Crofter, you wouldn’t-”</p><p>“Tell me.”</p><p>Janus sighed, almost as if he’d expected to have to give up this secret. Out of the pocket of his coat, he pulled a chess piece, a little white knight.</p><p>Logan frowned. “Why did you take that?”</p><p>“I thought we could collect the other thirty-one pieces and have ourselves a classic game of chess.” Janus drawled.</p><p>“We’d need a board as well.” Logan said, frowning.</p><p>Janus laughed dryly “Sarcasm, Crofter.”</p><p>“Then… why would you take something like that?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Janus held it up, letting the little figurine catch the sputtering fluorescent lights of the bunker. It was a simple figure, just a horse’s head, carved out of wood, painted white. “Something about it just… called out to me, you know?” He rolled his eye mockingly and made a gagging gesture. “I don’t know. Just liked the look of it.” He tucked the knight back into his coat pocket and sank down on his own cot across the room.</p><p>The bunker descended into silence for a bit. Janus lay on his cot, staring up at the ceiling, sometimes pulling out the little white knight to play with, running his fingers over its contours and ridges before stuffing it angrily back in his pocket. Logan picked up the rubix cube again, twisting the faces back and forth, solving and unsolving the cube, seeing how fast he could arrange it correctly. When his thoughts wandered too far into boredom and despair, he put it down and took to staring at the wall, or watched Janus fidget with the knight.</p><p>“What are you looking at?” Janus snapped, catching his eyes. Logan shook his head and glanced away, then slid out of bed and took a can of soup from the shelf, cutting it open with a knife.</p><p>As he sat down at the tiny table to enjoy his dinner, his eyes landed once more on Janus, who was perched on the edge of his cot, studying the chess piece like it held the answers to the universe.</p><p>Logan tilted his head at Janus, something dawning on him.</p><p>“Was that why you were injured?” He asked, finally breaking the silence. Janus’s head snapped up to look at him.</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>Logan nodded at the knight. “You encountered the undead because you were in pursuit of the chess piece.”</p><p>Janus’s eye twitched. “What’s it to you if I did?”</p><p>Logan sipped the soup and cringed. It was cold, of course. “It was an unnecessary risk.”</p><p>“I wanted something. Therefore, it was a necessary risk. Besides, my leg is fine.”</p><p>“Lucky coincidence.” Logan replied.</p><p>Janus’s eye narrowed. “I appreciate the sympathy, mother.”</p><p>Logan ignored the slight. He was used to Janus’s attitude. “What if you had been bitten?”</p><p>“What if I’d been bitten?” Janus reflected, rising to his feet and limping to the table, leaning on the chair across from Logan to steady himself. “What would you have done?”</p><p>Logan stared down, studying the worn wood of the table. “You know as well as I do there is no cure for bites, Janus.”</p><p>“So what? Tell me what you would’ve done.”</p><p>Logan thought back to those first few months, seemingly a golden paradise in comparison to this wasteland. The six of them had each other, and while things outside were bleak, the bunker was full of laughter and smiles and inside jokes. If only that would have lasted forever, but it soon became inevitable that they scour the wasteland outside for more resources.</p><p>Patton had been attacked and bitten in the arm despite Roman’s attempts to protect him. They’d had to amputate his arm, something Remus had done with a disturbing lack of forethought, but Patton had survived, for a little longer at least.</p><p>The next time, he wasn’t so lucky. The zombie bit him in the neck, and there was nothing that could be done.</p><p>“I would take the necessary risks.”</p><p>“Would you?” Janus leaned down on the table. “Would you cut off my limbs, Crofter? Cripple me for life, to guarantee our survival?”</p><p>“If it was necessary.”</p><p>“And what if you had to kill me, so you could survive?”</p><p>Logan stared at his can of soup, feeling sick at the idea.</p><p>“Well, would you?” Janus demanded.</p><p>Logan shook his head slowly. “Janus… you know I could not do something like that.”</p><p>“You’re an idiot.”</p><p>Logan lifted his head to watch Janus stalk back to his cot and yank the curtain shut. He willed himself to forget about it and return to his cold soup, but something continued to nag at him.</p><p>Before he knew what he was doing, he marched over to Janus’s cot and pulled the curtain aside.</p><p>“And what about me?” He demanded. “I’m deadweight, Janus. I have a broken leg and I could never fight to begin with. Why am I still here? Why have you not killed me, to guarantee your survival?”</p><p>Janus stared up at him; the expression in his face was hard to read, somewhere between hurt and anger.</p><p>“You’re not deadweight.”</p><p>“Is that another lie?” Logan asked, deadpan.</p><p>“Not everything I say is a goddamn lie, Crofter!” Janus snapped, shoving Logan backwards. Logan stumbled, a bolt of pain shooting through his broken leg, and he just barely managed to catch himself on a chair and pull himself back up with a groan. Janus rose from the cot.</p><p>“You would kill me without a second thought if I was bitten.” Logan said, head cloudy with pain.</p><p>“And what makes you think that?” Janus snarled.</p><p>“Because that is who you are!”</p><p>Janus looked like Logan had punched him in the gut. “What do you mean, that’s who I am? Who do you think I am, Crofter, just some snake shoving everyone else out of the way so I can be the sole hero and survivor of the apocalypse?”</p><p>“Yes!” Logan exclaimed. “That is precisely what you are, and I know that because you have been hoarding supplies and lying since day one.”</p><p>Janus shook his head. “Not since Virgil died because of my stupid selfishness. I haven’t hidden anything from you, I learned my lesson!”</p><p>“You have still been lying, though.”</p><p>“Oh, I see how it is!” Janus pulled out the white knight and slammed it down on the table. “Because this is the epitome of the lying scum of the earth!”</p><p>“We cannot afford risking our lives for trinkets, Janus. This is the end of the world!” Logan shot back. “You could have been killed!”</p><p>“Maybe I should’ve been!”</p><p>“What?” Logan asked.</p><p>Janus frowned. “Clearly you don’t want me here. You don’t trust me. You think I’d kill you in an instant, and maybe once, I would’ve. But I’ve lost too many people I care about to let you die too.”</p><p>“Then is it reasonable that I might feel the same way?” Logan asked quietly.</p><p>Janus’s eye met Logan’s for a long moment, and then he sank into one of the chairs around the table. Logan sat down in the one next to him.</p><p>“Nobody else should have to die.” Logan said, keeping his voice low.</p><p>“None of them should’ve died in the first place.” Janus whispered. “It’s my fault they’re dead.”</p><p>“You cannot blame yourself.”</p><p>“I was selfish.”</p><p>Logan picked up the little white horse. It’d been a long time since he’d seen anything like it. He took Janus’s hands in his and tucked the knight into them.</p><p>“You were human.”</p><p>Janus lifted his head, his eye meeting Logan’s. To Logan’s surprise, it was brimming with tears.</p><p>“You don’t blame me?”</p><p>“Why should I? We are all doing what we can, what we have to.”</p><p>Janus nodded, staring at the knight in his hands. He clutched it suddenly, reaching out with the other to take Logan’s.</p><p>“I want you to promise me that you won’t spare me at your own expense.” He said.</p><p>“I cannot promise that.” Logan replied, squeezing Janus’s hand. “I would rather be dead than traverse the apocalypse alone.”</p><p>Janus smiled weakly, nodding. “So would I.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading!  I'm considering writing more little snippets of this au, please let me know if you would be interested!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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